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Iraq Kurd PM slams government attempts to 'sabotage' oil deals
By Shwan Mohammed
AFP
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq
Petroleumworld.com 09 29 06
Iraqi Kurdish leaders on Thursday condemned what they branded national government moves to "sabotage" Kurdish attempts to develop their region's promising oil resources.
The Kurdish autonomous region's prime minister fired his broadside as his government announced that an international consortium had drilled a test well in a field capable of producing 5,000 barrels of crude per day.
Kurds hope an independent energy sector will provide them with an economic independence to match their political autonomy, amid fears among Iraq's Arab majority of burgeoning separatism in the northern region.
The Kurdish premier, Nechirvan Barzani, said Kurds would fiercely oppose any attempt to deprive them of the right to develop their oil industry, and warned that interference could revive their calls for independence.
"The people of Kurdistan chose to be in a voluntary union with Iraq on the basis of the constitution," Barzani said in a statement.
"If Baghdad ministers refuse to abide by that constitution, the people of Kurdistan reserve the right to reconsider our choice."
Barzani was reacting to a recent interview given by Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani, in which he said his office would review the terms of any oil deals signed by Kurdish authorities.
The Kurdish leader said his regional government "is working to develop petroleum in Kurdistan, an area that previous Iraqi regimes had declared off limits as means of punishing our people."
According to Barzani, Iraq's year-old constitution gives regional governments authority over oil and gas resources, and he accused Shahristani of breaching this agreement.
Shahristani's office could not immediately comment on the charges.
"Dr. Shahristani would better spend his time getting his ministry working rather than tearing down our achievements," Barzani said.
Iraq as a whole has some of the biggest oil reserves in the world, perhaps the second largest, but the Kurdish minority's highland territory has yet to be opened up to large-scale exploration and production.
Industry experts have said there could be as many as 3.6 billion barrels of untapped oil reserves in Kurdish region, while Kurdish leaders boast there could be much more.
In June, the independent Norwegian oil firm DNO estimated the Tawke oil field in the Kurdish region near the Turkish border had reserves of 100 million barrels, following the completion of their own 5,000 bpd test well.
The new operation, meanwhile, is in Taq Taq, between Sulaimaniyah and Arbil, where a company has just completed one well and is looking to finish two others by the end of the year for a total capacity of 20,000 bpd.
"The company is in charge of digging and extraction and the lion's share of the revenues shall go to the government of Kurdistan," said Rashid Khoshnaw, head of the special projects commission of the regional government.
The Taq Taq Operation Company (TTOPCO) is a joint venture of Turkey's Gensel Enerji and Addax Petroleum International Ltd, an independent firm registered in the British Virgin Islands whose major operations are in Nigeria.
In July, the Kurds signed a memorandum of understanding with the little known Beirut-based Make Oil company to build a 250,000 bpd refinery.
Though safer than the rest of the Iraq, perceived security and political risks have dissuaded oil majors from investing in Kurdistan.
Exploration has been taken up by smaller outfits such as DNO, Canada's Heritage Oil, or Britain's Sterling Energy which specialize in riskier ventures.
The Kurdish regional government's ability to sign lucrative oil deals with foreign countries is contingent upon this independence from central government oversight and is a fiercely guarded privilege.
But the issue of foreign involvement Iraq's petroleum sector is a sensitive and under ex-president Saddam Hussein, foreign companies were not allowed to participate in the sector, something the national parliament has yet to resolve.
The Kurdish regional area, however, has welcomed in foreign companies and made it clear it wants a more open oil policy than the rest of the country.
Fears of Kurdish secession have reached new heights in recent weeks, following the decision of the regional president Massud Barzani, Nechirvan's uncle, to ban the display of the Iraqi national flag in government offices.
AFP 28 1240 GMT 09 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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